The diners began murmuring in a frenzy while smartphones and cameras captured every angle of the scene. Veronica stood paralyzed, staring at Marcus with an expression of pure revulsion.
“You touched my sister?” she breathed, her voice trembling.
Marcus looked cornered, his composure slipping. “It’s not how it looks, Veronica.”
Veronica let out a sharp, joyless laugh through her tears. “That little girl has your eyes.”
The child gripped Veronica’s dress, shivering in terror.
Marcus lowered his voice, his tone desperate. “Eva stole a fortune from me and just vanished.”
“That’s a lie!” the little girl suddenly shrieked.
The entire crowd swung their attention toward her. The girl reached inside her oversized shirt and pulled out a small, creased letter.
“My mommy told me you’d lie.”
Veronica grabbed the note, unfolding the paper with shaking fingers. The opening sentence shattered her world in an instant.
Veronica… if you’re reading this, Marcus has destroyed all of our lives.
Marcus lunged toward her. “Don’t you dare read that!”
But Veronica recoiled, shielding the paper. The letter laid everything bare: for years, Marcus had been living a double life, juggling an affair with Eva while simultaneously dating Veronica. When Eva became pregnant, Marcus had bribed doctors to forge death certificates to ensure the baby would remain a secret from Veronica. But Eva had managed to flee before he could seize the child.
Veronica’s hands were violently unsteady as she reached the bottom of the page. “You made me grieve for a child that was alive the entire time?”
Marcus’s demeanor shifted from panic to a cold, hard glare. “You have no idea how dangerous this is getting.”
Suddenly, the little girl leaned in and whispered, “Mommy told me one more thing…”
Veronica knelt to the child’s level. “What is it, sweetheart?”
The girl glanced at Marcus, her eyes wide with dread. “She said if he ever tracked us down…”
Marcus roared, “SHUT UP!”
Security staff began closing in on the group. The girl burst into terrified sobs.
“She said he’s killed someone before!”
A chilling silence fell over the rooftop. Then—
The wail of police sirens began to rise from the street below.
The color drained from Marcus’s face. Veronica slowly retreated, distancing herself from him. “What have you done?”
Marcus scanned the faces of the stunned onlookers, then bolted toward the rooftop exit.
The little girl screamed. Veronica sprinted into the darkness after him—
—and the screen cuts to black.
